USBC Communications
ORLANDO, Fla. – Sunbury’sAidan Furukawa and Melia Mitskavich of DuBois, Pa., placed first in their respective divisions during Friday’s opening round of qualifying at the 2026 United States Bowling Congress U22 Masters and U22 Queens, which are being contested at Boardwalk Bowl.
Furukawa posted scores of 260, 279, 205, 204, 265, 216 and 236 for a seven-game total of 1,665 (a 237.9 average), which established a new record for the highest one-day qualifying block in the three-year history of the U22 Masters – Costa Gastouniotis of Goleta, Calif., held the previous mark at 1,612.
Mitskavich began Friday’s opening round in fifth place in the U22 Queens record book for highest seven-game qualifying total, but she moved up to second by day’s end, using games of 235, 235, 224, 236, 180, 222 and 277 to post an opening-round score of 1,609 (a 229.9 average), which is second only to the 1,653 tallied by Dannielle Henderson of Florissant, Mo., during the inaugural U22 Queens in 2024.
Katelyn Abigania of San Diego and Alyssa Ballard of Fort Worth, Texas, were Mitskavich’s closest pursuers. They came in with matching totals of 1,582 to finish Friday’s first round tied for second place in the 93-player U22 Queens field.
The remaining spots in the opening-day top five went to Victorya White of Wentzville, Missouri, and Juliana Kerrigan of Ashland, Va., who came in with scores of 1,574 and 1,556, respectively.
Wooster’s Emma Yoder sits ninth overall with 1,507, while Abbie Leiendecker is 36th (1,385).
Joining Furukawa in the top five in the 165-player U22 Masters field on Friday were Kevin Magnuson of San Jose, Calif. (1,628); Keaten Bieri of Fruitland, Iowa (1,610); Brayden Masclee of Fairport, N.Y. (1,597); and Quinn Tillman of Clermont, Fla. (1,587).
Friday was an up-and-down day for this year’s defending champions. Reining U22 Queens winner Aleesha Oden of Council Bluffs, Iowa, got off to a solid start, finishing Round 1 in 14th place with a score of 1,485. Two-time defending U22 Masters champion Brandon Bohn of Lake Wales, Florida, didn’t fare quite as well, ending the opening round in 60th place with 1,424.
Bohn, who competed on the fresh version of the 44-foot 2026 U22 Masters oil pattern on Friday, will look to turn things around Saturday afternoon while bowling on the burn.
Furukawa made the burn look easy on Day 1, and it wasn’t surprising. After all, according to him, the pattern gave him exactly what he was looking for.
“Honestly, the lanes played perfect to my game and what I like to do, which is keep my speed soft, keep my hand soft and just let the ball shape down lane,” Furukawa said. “I came in wanting to be confident and trust what I saw out there, and I was able to do that pretty well today.”
Because of how well he did Friday, the 19-year-old righty two-hander sits nearly 180 pins ahead of the cut line – 32nd place – heading into Saturday’s final seven-game qualifying block. Furukawa acknowledged the benefit of having posted a strong opening-round effort; still, he plans on keeping his foot on the gas during Round 2.
“Today’s strong start makes me really comfortable, but, obviously, I still want to get all the pins that I can,” said Furukawa, a sophomore at Savannah (Ga.) College of Art and Design. “Hopefully I can just keep doing tomorrow what I did today, but it’s really nice to have that lead.”
Speaking of leads, Furukawa is hoping this week’s efforts lead to him being crowned the 2026 U22 Masters champion come Monday afternoon.
“I feel like I’ve kind of been in a rough spot the last couple months, so today was a huge confidence booster, especially for the rest of this weekend,” Furukawa said. “It reminds me that I can do it, so hopefully it keeps up the rest of the way because to win this tournament would be great.”
In U22 Queens action on Friday, Mitskavich, a 20-year-old right-hander who just finished her sophomore season as part of Jacksonville State University’s title-winning Intercollegiate Team Championships squad, was the only player in the U22 Queens field to break 1,600 during Round 1 on the 44-foot 2026 U22 Queens oil pattern.
“I kind of had an idea of what I wanted to do from the practice session, but you never know exactly how they’re going to play since I was on the second (burn) squad today,” Mitskavich said. “I started the round with a clean asymmetrical ball that was good for about the first five games, and then I switched to a cleaner symmetrical ball. I was playing around 15, and then, as the day went on, I moved a little left to around 18 or 19 by the end of the round.”
She talked about how her collegiate experience bowling for the Gamecocks continues to pay dividends even at an individual event such as the U22 Queens.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned in college is moving on quickly from mistakes,” said Mitskavich. “Or, not even necessarily mistakes, but if one game or one shot doesn’t go your way, making sure you’re not letting that distract you from putting all your focus on the next shot or game.”
Abigania and Ballard, who both bowled for Vanderbilt University this past season (Abigania was a freshman; Ballard was a senior), crossed together on B Squad Friday and posted identical averages of 226 during Round 1.
Abigania’s games ranged from a low of 200 to a high of 257, while Ballard started her round with her high game of the block (265) and only had one game lower than 200 (194).
However, the best game of Round 1 in either field belonged to White, who started Game 4 of A Squad qualifying with a spare before rattling off 11 consecutive strikes to record a score of 290. White, who just finished her sophomore season at North Carolina A&T, was the only bowler from A Squad to crack the top seven after Round 1.
Kerrigan, who just completed her sophomore season at Louisiana Tech, had a high game of 268 on Friday.
In addition to being standout collegiate performers, Abigania also is a current member of both Team USA and Junior Team USA, Mitskavich and White are both current Junior Team USA members and Ballard is a former Junior Team USA member.
But impressive credentials won’t be enough to earn those athletes or any of their fellow U22 Queens competitors a spot in the tournament’s match-play bracket; those berths can only be earned based on qualifying position.
All eyes will be on the 24th position in the U22 Queens standings at the end of Saturday’s final seven-game qualifying block as only the top 24 athletes will advance to match play on Sunday. Brooke Salzman of Inver Grove Heights, Minn., held down that spot after Round 1 with a total of 1,431 (204.4 average).
Because the U22 Masters field is larger, 32 athletes will make the cut to match play in that event. With one round of qualifying remaining, Max Macklin of Savannah, Ga., and Chance McLane of Chesapeake Beach, Md., sit tied for 32nd place at 1,486 (a 212.3 average).
All competitors at both the U22 Masters and U22 Queens will return to Boardwalk Bowl for seven more games of qualifying on Saturday.
Bowlers who battled the burn Friday afternoon will start off Saturday’s action on the fresh starting at 10 a.m. Eastern while athletes who bowled on the fresh during Round 1 will take on the burn in Round 2. Saturday’s burn squads are scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Eastern.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s final qualifying blocks, the fields for both tournaments will be cut for match play.
U22 Masters and U22 Queens match play will begin Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Eastern. All matches in both tournaments will be two games with total pinfall determining the winner. A player will be eliminated from the competition upon losing his or her second match.
Five rounds of matches will be contested on Sunday with just the top eight players in each event surviving and advancing to the final day of competition on Monday.
Three additional rounds of matches will take place on Monday morning beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern, after which just three players in each field will remain in contention for the 2026 U22 Masters and U22 Queens titles.
Those bowlers will advance to the finals, which will be streamed live on BowlTV from Boardwalk Bowl on Memorial Day starting at 2 p.m. Eastern. The U22 Queens title will be awarded first with the U22 Masters finals set to begin approximately 45 minutes thereafter.
Because the finals will not be broadcast live on national television, each event’s top seed will have to be defeated twice during the finals in order to be denied the title.
All athletes competing in this year’s tournaments will be hoping to walk away with their event’s title and first-place trophy.
However, while winning will be top priority for all competitors, titles and trophies won’t be the only thing on the line during the U22 Masters and U22 Queens.
Athletes competing in Orlando this week have extra incentive to author their best performances as the USBC Team USA Athlete Advisory Council has approved a total of eight spots on Junior Team USA to top finishers at the 2026 U22 Masters and U22 Queens.
The AAC, which is made up of current or former tenured Team USA athletes, supported that berths on Junior Team USA 2027 will go to the top three age-eligible finishers after the qualifying rounds at both the U22 Masters and U22 Queens and to each tournament’s champion.
If the champion has already acquired a spot or is not age eligible, the fourth and final Junior Team USA position up for grabs at each event will be given to the next-highest age-eligible finisher after the qualifying rounds.
Age-eligible athletes will be those who have not reached their 21st birthday by Jan. 1, 2027.
All rounds of competition at both the U22 Masters and Queens will be streamed live exclusively on BowlTV.